Nitrite has been used as an additive in the manufacture of cured meat products for many years. More recently the use of sodium nitrite has been permitted in the commercial processing of certain smoked-cured fish products to inhibit the outgrowth and subsequent toxin formation by Clostridium botulinum Type E. The fact that nitrite can react with amines in foods to produce carcinogenic N-nitrosamines is a matter of grave concern. In a broad sense the purpose of this research is to investigate the occurrence and formation of N-nitrosamines in food systems and to evaluate the hazard of compounds formed. The approach will be to systematically study the chemical reactions between nitrite and amines which appears to be responsible for N-nitrosamine formation in foods. Special attention will be given to the improvement of methodology for the characterization of amines in foods. The manufacturing practices which may affect N-nitrosamine formation in fermented sausages will be studied. Analytical procedures such as gas-liquid chromatography, thin-layer chromatography, mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, etc. will be used to separate and characterize amines and N-nitrosamines. Dose response information for the carcinogenic dimethlnitrosamine and N-nitrosopyrrolidine, with and without cocarcinogenic cyclopropenoid fatty acids, will be obtained for rainbow trout.